Topic outline

  • Learning Objectives

    In today's business environment employees face constant communication and cultural challenges. They have to deal with different cultures and communication styles when meeting face to face, interacting in social media, and participating in or leading multinational (virtual) teams.

    The aim of the course is to deepen the students' knowledge of current research in the versatile and changing field of business and intercultural communication.

    Learning outcomes

    By the end of the course students will:

    • comprehend the interrelationship of culture, communication, and identity
    • have developed an understanding of the most pertinent communication issues in international business
    • identify different strategies for dealing with intercultural challenges
    • have become familiar with theoretical concepts as well as research methods from the various disciplines of intercultural business studies.
    Content

    The selected articles offer different frameworks for understanding the role of culture and language in intercultural business communication. The articles deal with the key concepts of cultural identity work and intercultural intelligence, relationship building and knowledge sharing across cultures in virtual teams, key communication competences of intercultural qualified multinational team leaders, and English as Business Lingua Franca (BELF). Most of the articles focus on discourse practices in intercultural business communication but some of them address specific contexts such as mergers and acquisitions, website design, business negotiations, and crisis communication.

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